Double-row angular contact rolling bearings are applied wherever not only large radial forces but also large axial forces have to be taken up from both directions due to the bearing position. The most common embodiment of such angular contact rolling bearings in this context is the double-row angular contact rolling bearing in which both rows of bearing balls are arranged on contact angle axes which are positioned in an O-arrangement or X-arrangement with respect to one another. In order to bring about a high level of filling with bearing balls and therefore the highest possible load-bearing capability of such angular contact rolling bearings, the bearing balls either have a filling groove on one side on the outer bearing ring or an inner bearing ring which is embodied split into two axially. Another possible way of bringing about a high filling level with rolling bodies and therefore a high load-bearing capability of a double-row angular contact rolling bearing but without a filling groove on the outer bearing ring and without an inner bearing ring which is embodied split into two axially has been disclosed by DE 43 34 195 A1. In this document, a double-row angular contact rolling bearing of the generic type is disclosed in FIG. 2e, which double-row angular contact rolling bearing is composed essentially of an outer bearing ring and an inner bearing ring and also of a multiplicity of rolling bodies which are arranged one next to the other in two rows between the bearing rings, but the rolling bodies are not embodied as bearing balls but as ball rollers with, in each case, two side faces which are flattened symmetrically from a basic ball shape and are arranged parallel to one another. The two rows of the ball rollers, which are held at uniform distances from one another in the circumferential direction by means of two bearing cages, roll here in, in each case, two adjacent groove-shaped raceways which are formed in the inner side of the outer bearing ring and in the outer side of the inner bearing ring and whose contact angle axes are positioned in an O-arrangement with respect to one another and which are delimited axially on one side by one shoulder in each case. This angular contact rolling bearing is to be filled here by axial insertion of the ball rollers, which are oriented horizontally with their side faces, into the clearance between the bearing rings, and subsequent tilting of the ball rollers into the raceways of the angular contact rolling bearing. After the uniform distribution of the ball rollers in their raceways in the circumferential direction, the two bearing cages, which are embodied, for example, as plastic snap-action cages according to the central embodiment in FIG. 3 of the specified document, are then snapped from both axial sides of the bearing onto the ball rollers in order to fix the latter in their operating position in the angular contact rolling bearing.
However, in practice it has been found that with a double-row angular contact rolling bearing which is embodied in such a way it is not possible to mount the ball rollers in the described manner, or it is only possible to do so with very high expenditure. When attempting to perform such mounting of the ball rollers it has, in fact, become apparent that after the ball rollers have been inserted axially into the clearance between the bearing rings until they abut against their raceway in the outer bearing ring, it is not possible to tilt the ball rollers in the direction of the raceways in the inner bearing ring or it is only possible to do so with large application of force, since the latter become misaligned with their side faces pointing to the outer bearing ring on the inner side of the outer bearing ring. Even if it is then possible to tilt the ball rollers in the direction of the raceways in the inner bearing ring while using tolerances or the elasticity of all the parts, the limits of the specified mounting possibility are run up against once more since the ball rollers frequently slip through between the bearing rings in the direction of the raceway lying opposite in the inner bearing ring, or the ball rollers become misaligned again on the raceway provided for them in the inner bearing ring. Furthermore, it has proven a disadvantage of the described bearing cage for the double-row angular contact rolling bearing that the pocket webs which are embodied with the snap-action projections are of relatively broad design and therefore do not constitute an optimum for the largest possible degree of filling of the angular contact rolling bearing. It is also disadvantageous that the possibility of movement of the ball rollers in the pockets of the snap-action cage cannot be adapted to operationally conditioned fluctuations in the contact angle axes, with the result that when such fluctuations in the contact angle occur it is very probable that the ball rollers will snap out of their cage pockets and as a result serious damage will occur to the bearing.